No. 1 ‘Star Trek’ gives ‘Wheel’ a flat

This article was corrected on November 11, 1992. A syndicated ratings story on Oct. 29 incorrectly identified the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episode that aired the week of Oct. 5. It was “Man of the People.”

“Star Trek: The Next Generation” claimed the top spot in the Nielsen national syndication barter rankings for the third week in a row, displacing the previous champ, King World’s “Wheel of Fortune.”

During the week ended Oct. 18, most of the top syndie shows were flat or down because of baseball preemptions.

“Trek’s” beaming performance, featuring the return of Scotty, was good enough to give the program a 6% ratings advantage over “Wheel.”

In other syndie news, Columbia Pictures Television Distribution’s “Designing Women” declined 3% from the previous week to a 5.2, while Viacom’s “Roseanne” gained 4% to a 5.2.

Carsey-Werner Distribution’s “You Bet Your Life” slipped 2% to a 4.2, while Multimedia Entertainment’s “Rush Limbaugh,” which had been off to a strong start , dipped for the second straight week and fell 7% to a 2.6.

Also among talkshows, Paramount’s “The Maury Povich Show” scored a season-high 4.2, putting it ahead of Tribune’s “Geraldo” by 14% (4.2 vs. 3.7) and put in on top of Buena Vista TV’s “Live With Regis & Kathie Lee” for the second week in a row (4.2 vs. 3.8).

“Povich” also posted the most year-to-year growth during the first three weeks of the October sweeps, up 25% from the same period last year. The closest gainer was “Regis,” which was up 12%.

Among kids shows, Fox Children’s Network’s “Batman: The Animated Series” moved ahead of Buena Vista Television’s “Goof Troop” in the kids 2.11 category. “Batman” posted a 5.9 in the demo vs. a 5.7 for “Goof,” which led in the category the past two weeks.